Researcher(s)
- Bethany Hinshaw, Electrical Engineering, Bridgewater College
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Nathan Lazarus, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Delaware
Abstract
The sensation of touch plays an integral role in human perception of the world around us. The use of haptic feedback to interact with this sense is becoming more common in applications such as consumer electronics and medicine. There are many methods of generating haptic feedback. Electromagnetic actuation with coils of room temperature liquid metal is one such way and is suited for wearable technologies. In this project, a method is developed for creating liquid metal haptic actuators of multiple sizes. 3D printing is used to create molds for coils of silicone tubing to hold liquid metal. Control of these actuators is achieved via an Arduino-based circuit with a shift register and L298N motor drivers. This project demonstrates two different wearable applications of this haptic control circuit: a rectangular array of haptics responding in patterns to serial input and a glove with individual fingertip haptic stimulation in response to force sensitive resistors. A 180 Hz square wave is generated using pulse width modulation (PWM) to generate tactile vibrations when the corresponding shift register output is activated. These wearables have potential applications in medical fields including improving the comfort of compression garments (arm band) and stroke rehabilitation (glove).